


A Chance Encounter

by Baby_hime



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, BTW yes I made a new relationship tag, Canon Compliant, F/M, I'm amazed by the lack of Reader tags for Fates TBH, POV Third Person Limited, Pre-localization, Reader-Insert, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 03:25:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6036055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baby_hime/pseuds/Baby_hime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some say there is no such thing as fate...but one man begs to differ.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to be completely honest: I have no idea what to say, this is the first time I've ever submitted a story to the Archive. Or anywhere, for that matter. But that's a bit besides the point, I think.
> 
> You ought to know, there are some minor spoilers in this story for two different things. First, for the events of Chapter 2 (it was shown to the public sometime last year, I think). Second, for the Kaze x Avatar support chain. So...be aware.
> 
> Also, you may notice that this story refers to Kaze as "Suzukaze." That's...just part of a headcanon of mine that he goes by "Kaze" in public and "Suzukaze" in private.
> 
> Anyway, all that aside, I hope you enjoy.

 

Truth be told, the Nohrian princess is not the kind of woman he would normally look twice at.

 _The swish of a blade_ , _followed by the metallic clang of steel against steel_ , _fills his ears. It is kill or be killed here and the odds are not_ _in his favor,_ his instincts say.

It only takes him a few seconds to engrave a face to memory . . . yet he had found himself staring. Longer than necessary and longer than he liked.

 _Better to wait it out_ , _get a proper vantage point_ , _observe_ , _plan_ , _and then strike_ , his instincts say _._ So he does.

If he were bored, maybe he’d let his eyes linger as long as they did. Yet the past ten minutes have been anything but boring.

 _The screams of Hoshidan soldiers — no, sheep to the slaughter — ring in the confined space, echoing long after their owners are felled like trees. The Nohrian soldiers press their advantage. Good and bad; good for them, bad for him._ His instincts cannot deny their martial prowess, however brutal it may be.

It is not a question of beauty. While there are certainly better looking women than her, he had never once spared _them_ a second glance. No, it was something else — and the more he tries to deny it, the more obvious it becomes. It was something he had seen in her eyes.

 _The Fire Tribe Chieftain’s daughter — Rinkah, she said her name was — charges. She has spirit befitting her lineage but she is overzealous — she does not see the ambush waiting behind the walls. Once she nears, the Nohrian soldiers emerge, weapons drawn, and converge. Rinkah fights valiantly despite the disadvantage but she falls like the others. Another tree of life cut down_. _Predictable, in hindsight. Unavoidable_ , _too_ , _for warning her would have given his position away_ , his instincts say _. The ninja does not give his position away._

She had said her name was (insert_name_here), a name neither Hoshidan nor Nohrian. Why does that name stir something in him every time he thinks of it? Could it — he dares to wonder — possibly be . . . ? After all these years . . . ? Only, that’s absurd. That’s impossible. That’s . . . her coming this way.

 _No point in hiding,_ his instincts say, _she already knows you are here_.

          Yet there is so much _he_ doesn’t know, so much he wants to know, so much he’s afraid of knowing. . . .

          He could, he supposes, just _ask_ her. It _would_ put his mind at ease. He stifles a mirthless laugh at the thought — _the ninja is silent as a shadow or a creeping snake_ , his instincts remind him, _the ninja does not speak._ So he fights down the urge. If it is her, if it is _really_ her, he knows he could never raise a weapon to her. But the king is watching. . . .

“Surrender,” she commands with a blade dripping darkness in her hands, just as her voice is dripping venom. But then, in a softer, lower voice that only he can hear, she finishes with, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

          Something swims in her (insert_eye_color) eyes, something he never thought he’d see in the face of an enemy. Is it . . . pity? No, but it is something he cannot put into words; not now and maybe not ever. Regardless, now he knows for sure — she is no enemy. She is far from it. She is the one he was both hoping and dreading to see ever since that fateful night so long ago. It’s (insert_name_here). It’s really (insert_name_here) — long-lost princess of Hoshido and face forever burned into his mind.

Part of him wants to smile. The other part . . . does not know what it wants. To beg forgiveness? To disappear out of shame? They are both tempting. So he stands there, transfixed for a moment in time (though it feels like an eternity to him) as common sense screams, “ _Stupid! The ninja does not—_ ” but he is no longer listening. He could never forget those eyes . . . eyes that sparkle like gemstones in the dark sky called life. But . . . the king is watching. . . .

With a terrible jolt of his heart, he realizes he is bound to die one way or the other — either by (insert_name_here)’s hand or the king’s. There is no way to avoid it. Even if she knew who he is it is doubtful she would disobey the father she thinks she has . . . and he would not want her to. Still, he won’t deny that hurts in a way he cannot describe; not now and maybe not ever.

 _The king is watching_.

           His instincts cut through the hesitant haze blanketing his mind to say, “One would grant a quick, relatively painless death . . . but the other, well. . . .”

 _The king is watching closely_.

           Still, he does not want to fight, not really. How could he, considering who she is? Who he is?

 _The king is watching more closely still_.

But does he have a choice? Garon — curse him a thousand times — would be suspicious of the Hoshidan ninja who surrendered to a not-really-Nohrian princess . . . and who would take the blame? The answer is as obvious as the decision he settles on. He failed to protect her once . . . and swore not to make that mistake again.

Halfheartedly, Suzukaze draws his kunai. (insert_name_here) tightens her grip on her sword accordingly.

“Let me save her in death,” he thinks. “If only briefly.”

And so he rushes forward, prepared to make his promise a reality. But fate, which had brought them back together after all these years, whether as a cruel joke or final reprieve, did not know that free will has other plans.


End file.
